Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 124341 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124341 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
“I have a few more resources than you,” he said, offering a small smile. “She had her license taken from her. She’s working as an in-home day care provider. She’s well, and she misses you. I’ll give you her information.”
“Yes, please.”
“Salma had seen evidence that caused her to question things at Mercy. They fired her before she could copy that evidence or do anything with it. Then they destroyed her reputation and her credibility until she had no choice but to give up and attempt to rebuild her life.”
“Oh my God,” Autumn said.
Oh, Salma. She’d helped her when no one else had. To know the woman had suffered for it made Autumn ache. Without you, Salma, I never would have known I was well. She shuddered inside to think of it. To imagine what would have happened to her had she not gone off her medication.
Sam hadn’t said a word, but she sensed his tumultuous emotions as they rose inside him, his hand growing ever warmer by the moment as, inside perhaps, his blood boiled. “She suspected the truth, that I never had ADHM,” she guessed.
“Yes. And more so that you and several of the others were being used as a control group for the cocktail of medications they had you on, specifically the Mesmivir.”
She blew out a breath. To have it confirmed… God, it hurt. And it fanned a flame of anger, one that was just beginning to flicker. They’d stolen years from her. Years. And double that of Sam’s.
“Your blood tests confirmed Salma’s suspicions,” Mark said. “I’m attempting to pull files that will provide more information, but a lot is sealed. And I assume much has been destroyed.”
“How?” she asked.
“That’s always the biggest question,” Jak said. “And I don’t know that I’ve come to a reason that brings me any peace.” He looked at Sam. “But maybe that’s a good thing, because there should never be peace when it comes to hurting children. So here’s my best guess: greed, weakness, fear, pure evil in some cases, though I think that’s rarer.” He paused for a moment. “I’ve spent a lot of time considering their reasons, but I think it’s time better spent working to rescue those still suffering. You’re not nearly there yet, Sam, but you will be. If I can offer you any hope right now, it’s that you will be.”
Autumn hoped to God Jak’s words were penetrating, though from the look on Sam’s face, too much pain was radiating inside him for any words to make much difference.
Autumn’s anger and grief were a flickering flame, but Sam’s were a raging inferno, and rightly so. They’d experimented on both of them. But what they’d done to Sam had destroyed his belief that he was capable of being a human being. Of deserving love. Her eyes moved over his visible scars, and she pictured the many others. So many others. But it was the deeper scarring that she now feared the most. The ones that had scraped away at his soul. Jak had mentioned pure evil was rare, but if anything should be defined as such, it was this.
“If some of us were the control group, then others really were sick,” she said as she voiced her thoughts. “But were they made sicker by the medication?” The very idea was making her nauseous, her head pounding.
“I don’t have the answer to that,” Mark said. “Not yet.”
Not yet. Autumn reached up and massaged her temples, alleviating the ache in her head if not in her heart. She had tried to dig up answers; Salma had attempted to do so too and been destroyed. But if she had any hope, it was that Agent Mark Gallagher had the weight of the government behind him.
Or was the government involved in what had been done to them? Mark had said he worked for a classified task force under the cover of one more public. So in essence, they worked in secret. How far up did this go? She swallowed, the world swaying. It was too much to consider, much less ask about. She gripped Sam’s hand tighter, his fingers finally curling around hers.
They’d both been betrayed. Deeply. “They put us in the woods,” she said. “To be hunted.” She hadn’t mentioned it yet because she saw the misery in Sam’s expression each time they spoke of it. But Mark needed to know the depth and breadth of the evil so he could hold the right people responsible. “They told us our memories were dreams.” Sam looked away, and she squeezed his hand more tightly.
I won’t let you go. This is not your shame to carry.
Jak’s brows raised, and Mark blinked. “Salma mentioned the dreams that seemed to coincide with the full moon,” he murmured.
“It’s how we met,” Autumn said. “The part of the hospital where Sam was raised was off-limits to us.” She told them about the dreams that weren’t dreams, about Sam protecting her, about the dirt under her fingernail, her suspicions, Salma’s instruction, the silver hair she’d put under her tongue, the only hiding spot she could think of, guessing they might clean her body before she woke.